Weekly Legislative Roundup 3/2/18

Welcome to the March 2nd edition of NORML’s Weekly Legislative Roundup!

First, I want to bring your attention to the dedicated activists lobbying in conjunction with Arizona NORML! Activists in Arizona lobbied state lawmakers in the capital on Monday 2/26 in favor of a bill that would require testing for potency and health and safety as well as certifications for independent testing labs.

Also at the state level, Massachusetts regulators agreed to delay considering proposed rules allowing marijuana social use areas and delivery services until a later date after receiving intense pressure over those license categories from state officials. But they also decided that when the Cannabis Control Commission does authorize the services, initial licenses will only be available to people with past drug convictions or who live in neighborhoods with high drug arrest rates. The commission also agreed to place caps on marijuana farmers and determined a threshold for how much marijuana product they have to sell.

New Jersey lawmakers are set to begin holding hearings on marijuana legalization this month, with the first one scheduled for this Monday March 5th at noon by the Assembly Oversight Committee. On the other hand, several NJ lawmakers are still skeptical about legalization. A survey of lawmakers suggests that marijuana legalization legislation would be defeated if a vote were held now.

On a brighter note, Arkansas regulators announced the winners of medical cannabis cultivation licenses, and Alaska raked in its biggest monthly haul in marijuana taxes, with just over $1 million collected in January. Proponents of a Missouri ballot initiative effort to legalize and regulate medical cannabis statewide reached a milestone by surpassing over 200,000 signatures, although they only needed 160,000.

Several marijuana related legislation died this week after failing to be voted on before crossover deadlines. These include legalization and medical expansion measures in Arizona, Georgia, West Virginia, and Kansas.

At a more local level, Denver, CO approved its first social use marijuana license, allowing vaping and edibles in a Lincoln Park coffee shop. Additionally, The Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution supporting a state Senate bill that seeks to create a state-chartered bank that could be used by the marijuana industry.

Following are the bills from around the country that we’ve tracked this week and as always, check http://norml.org/act for legislation pending in your state.

Don’t forget to sign up for our email list and we will keep you posted as these bills and more move through your home state legislature and at the federal level.

Your highness,
Carly

Priority Alerts

Federal

End Prohibition: Representatives Tom Garrett (R-VA) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) have introduced bipartisan legislation, HR 1227, to exclude marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, thus leaving states the authority to regulate the plant how best they see fit.

The “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017” eliminates federal criminal penalties for possessing and growing the plant. This legislation gives states the power and flexibility to establish their own marijuana policies free from federal interference.

The Legislature is considering HB 656, which would legalize and regulate the personal use of marijuana by those 21 and older.

The bill also allows the cultivation, possession, and use of hemp, and calls for retail sales and generation of state revenues through taxation, as well as authorizes the licensing of marijuana wholesale, retail, cultivation, and testing facilities.

Update: The House Ways and Means Committee may kill HB 656 even though it already passed the full chamber, and despite A February 2018 UNH Granite State poll finding that 56 percent of adults support the amended version of this bill. They’re having a full committee work session on 3/12 at 1pm.

Lawmakers are moving forward with a proposal to amend a key provision of the state’s voter-initiated adult use marijuana law.

Under existing law, adults may legally cultivate as many as six mature marijuana plants on their property. Lawmakers are suggesting halving this amount. NORML opposes this law change.

To date, legislators have refused to enact provisions in the 2016 law permitting for the licensed commercial production and retail sale of cannabis. As a result, adults may only obtain marijuana via home cultivation. Further, no data has been presented indicating that this provision is either being abused or that home-cultivated marijuana is being diverted into the criminal market.

Other changes recommended by lawmakers include: banning any social use establishments and significantly increasing the proposed excise tax on wholesale marijuana products.

State Representative Jeremy Faison (R) and State Senator Steve Dickerson (R) have introduced legislation, SB 1710 and HB 1749 to establish a limited medical marijuana access program in Tennessee.

The measure permits qualified patients to possess marijuana-infused oil products, as well as other non-herbal forms of cannabis, from state-licensed dispensaries. Both patients and physicians would be required to participate in a state registry.

Update: Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) and Chairman of the House Health Subcommittee Dr. Bryan Terry (R-Murfreesboro) signed on as co-sponsors to the Medical Cannabis Only Act on 2/26. The following day, the House Criminal Justice subcommittee voted 4-3 to approve HB 1749, with House Speaker Harwell casting the tie-breaking vote. HB 1749 is on the Criminal Justice Committee’s calendar for 3/7/18. SB 1710 is still posted in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HB 1893 is pending, to permit physicians to recommend cannabis therapy to those struggling with opioid abuse or dependence. HB 1893 was heard by the House Health and Human Services Committee on 2/15, and then approved with amendments, and passed on to the Judiciary Committee.

Update: HB 1893 was heard by the House Judiciary committee on Thursday, and then was approved unanimously 8 to zero.

House Bill 1214 is pending, further clarifying the legal status of CBD products in the state of Indiana for specific patients.

Despite the passage last year of limited language permitting certain patients to possess CBD, law enforcement has continued to take punitive action against those providing CBD products, and some officials have continued to questioned their legality. Passage of these measures will eliminate this legal confusion and greatly expand CBD access.

Update: HB 1214 was approved by the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee after it was heard on 2/27.

The bill would “authorize and facilitate the research of industrial hemp and any aspect of growing, cultivating, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, transporting, marketing, or selling industrial hemp for agricultural, industrial, or commercial purposes.”

Update: HB 698 was approved by the House Environment and Transportation Committee with amendments on 2/26. The amendments were adopted and it passed the third reading by a 136-1 vote on 3/1.

House Bill 1476 is pending, to permit qualifying patients to cultivate small quantities of cannabis for their own therapeutic use.

Under the state’s existing medical marijuana program, patients are mandated to obtain cannabis from only a limited number of state-licensed dispensaries. Those who cultivate for themselves may be guilty of a felony offense.

House Bill 376 was recently introduced, to establish a state bank that will help assist in financial matters related to marijuana businesses. It’s currently pending in the Labor and Commerce Committee.

Activities of the bank would include helping “marijuana-related businesses make deposits and to help other financial institutions receive deposits from marijuana-related businesses.”

78 responses to “Weekly Legislative Roundup 3/2/18”

Trump bragged about how he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any voters. But Trump does not have the right to use a gun, because Trump has no second amendment rights under the US Constitution. That’s because Trump is a fucking traitor to America!

I love your two comments so much, someone here started apetition to the white house making pot legal I went in saw Donald Trump signing a bill to get tough on drugs – opiods- nothing else- Drug hero– Donald Trump– no links– no petitions– Just Donald being the God with a pen.
Fuk criminal Donald- fuk his family in the white house- we need change.

Joe, a border is a conceptual object, not a physical object. It’s a dotted line on a map.

What actually matters on the border is good relations between neighboring countries and states. Borders help to define that, but they are not physical objects. If you see a physical object on the border, like a fence or a wall or a border agent, that’s not the actual border. That is an object on the border. You can’t actually see the legal border.

Borders are about relationships, not prison walls.

A border wall between USA and Mexico is a stupid idea, not only because it is physically impossible (try building a wall on the Rio Grande water, Loco! Can’t be done!), but also because it is offensive, and racist.

For Trump, however, that is entire point, isn’t it? …to stoke racism and hatred and distrust.

Look, you idiots bought into the propaganda, and there’s no way for me or anyone else to reprogram your malfunctions. You’re not alone; many other Americans have been brainwashed by the political parties poisoning the well with their narratives.

The media is constantly touting the liberal agenda. Fox news and a few internet sites, as the only exceptions to the rule, argue the conservative agenda. Both sides are fucking attacking our country with constant bullshit, and you losers simply pick your side and repeat the crap your masters placed in your heads.

Yet, the constant onslaught of attacks by the msm and the moronic dem leaders are more of the same. Meaning, it’s the same bullshit they ran with during Hillary’s epic fail of a campaign. Didn’t work and continues not to work. Yes, a lot of you believe Trump will be impeached, there’s a blue wave coming this year, etcetera, but you’re fooling yourselves.

We need to revamp our system and replace the two party nonsense. Everything is partisan, and it’s always the other guy’s fault.

Sessions is part of the swamp Trump is supposed to be draining. Agreed. Sessions will undoubtedly resign or get fired soon enough. His rhetoric concerning cannabis will fade away. Be patient. Yet, that same rhetoric is literally helping legalization. If you can’t do the math to understand why Sessions is good for this cause, just sit down and shut up. He’s not on our side but his outspoken views are fueling the movement to proceed to the next steps very soon. Congress will finally act, and it’ll be partly due to Sessions enforcing federal law. Enforcing laws is actually a good thing. It’s standing in the way of the will of the people to change said laws that is not good. Make sense, folks?

But the constant Trump bashing is sad. Accept his flawed personality and move forward. Show us Hillary again, and Trump will win everytime. Bernie is likeable but wrong for America. The momentum of socialism should scare everyone that cares about the future. Still, if the Dems don’t steal the primaries from him again, he could win. Very scary.

Russia? Literally a bullshit campaign attack from Hillary, and the snowball effect has now cost us an unfathomable amount of tax money. Nothing to show for it, despite what a few media sources still want you to believe. No collusion, still. Regarding tampering with our elections: duh, dummies! Of course they did and will. And of course we are doing the same thing with them and other countries all over the globe. Obama did nothing. Trump won’t do anything about it. It’ll continue to happen. And it will continue to have nothing to do with collusion.

But Trump might have had affairs. He talked about grabbing pussy to stroke his ego. He’s a big meany, milking capitalism while you AREN’T as rich as him. I get it. Let’s hate him and sabotage our country in the name of removing him from the dictator throne he sits on!

We can’t solve all the problems we have all at once, so I’ll leave it here. I’m right, you’re wrong.

Next thing you know is that Leroy will be defending Trump’s BFF, psycopathic drug warrior President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. Leroy will tell us that bashing a psychopath like Duterte is sad and how we little people know nothing about him. Leroy will also go on to defend the hangmen of Singapore, whom Trump had praised recently. Leroy, you can praise Trump and his hangmen drug warrior friends all you want. But the bottom line, Leroy is that you and your fellow Trump lovers are no friend of cannabis when you carry water for Trump, Sessions, Duterte and the hangmen of Singapore.You are just another sociopath coming on this site to gaslight people, you quilsing!

Sean, that’s really your response? Like talking to a child, bruh. I carry water for truth. Objective intelligence, brought to you by your boy, Leroy! You don’t get to tell me anything when it’s all falling out of your ass. Purely made up bullshit. Nothing factual or constructive. Not a surprise, however. Distortion is all you’re capable of.

The media you decry is a CORPORATE media. And it was that corporate media that essentially got Drumpf elected, by showing him 24/7 in the months leading up to the election. BTW, in your lecture about the unelectable Hillary, you forgot to mention that she beat Drumpf by 3 million votes. Sure, she lost the electoral vote–but that just shows that GOPers know how to game the system better.

And Leroy, no lectures from you will keep me from criticizing his Orange Highness. I’m SURE you never criticized Obama, and supported him because he was your Commander in Chief. Yeah, right.

I used to know a Leroy when I was a kid. He was a white rat with far more integrity than the Leroy that invites himself on this forum to tell how us little people just don’t understand his hero, Trump. Everything I said was factual Leroy, you’re just butt hurt because you take offense at it. The truth hurts, Leroy otherwise you wouldn’t be so overwrought. President Trump has praised the President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte for his drug war, not just once but many times. That’s a fact. Duterte’s kill ratio dwarfs Ferdinand Marco’s death count when he was the dictator back in the seventies and eighties. That’s another fact. Trump has praised the hangmen of Singapore by lavishing praise on Singapore’s barbaric drug laws. Fact again! Trump and his supporters, that includes you, Leroy, are members of a modern death cult that has no respect for humanity. So Leroy, you can praise Trump all you want, but again, you are no friend of cannabis. Don’t pretend that you and Trump supporters are. You are a soulmate of the hangmen of southeast Asia, Duterte’s death squads of the Philippines, and the prison industry here in the states. That defines you and your fellow Vichyite supporters, Leroy. But again, a rat has more integrity than you.

I certainly hope New Jersey doesn’t back-peddle on legalizing adult retail. It would be much cheaper to go to New Jersey and buy adult retail flower to vaporize in a Volcano than to buy so many cartridges through Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana disaster. The law is shit as you can’t legally buy or possess the bud because there is the possibility people will smoke it rather than vape. The cartridges are expensive as all hell. Best to buy the token cartridges and if you can get good bud to vape then that’s much cheaper.

Watching the BBC News 3/2 on my local PBS station they had a segment on with a male and a female British prohibitionist and a satellite link to a Canadian law enforcement officer. I couldn’t find the link on BBC’s site to post, but did find the HT article from not so long ago. The Canadian was trying to education the prohibitionists but the two Brits already had their minds made up, filled with incorrect points of argument.

I’m sure Brits who have been to Amsterdam know there are different names for different strains and that Skunk is its own strain that cannabists sell in the form of seedless dried female flowers, or sinsemilla as it is known in the North America.

The lower the level of CBD, according to them, the more the effects of the THC, and their worries about psychosis susceptible people stalling for more research and to hold off on decriminalization even. Maybe, but you could have the same ratio of CBD to THC in a strain with higher THC, you know, and more CBD in the same ratio. Higher THC is higher THC is higher possibility of psychosis, like 10-20% she was saying. Proof? If so, then the Canadian guy was saying to educate people and the shops are doing that. Weird woman and man were out of touch, like people who say marijuana cigarette, when everyone knows it’s a joint. It makes in-the-know people not want to take them seriously because they don’t sound knowledgeable. Like you could be growing Skunk #1 or whatever and if you let it go to seed it will not be as potent as if you remove the males and make sure it doesn’t go to seed. Even your newbie budtender in the North America or in Amsterdam can tell you that. There was nothing to mention taking fewer hits and thus a harm reduction inhaling less smoke. I don’t want this kind of shit from Britain and their intent to influence things in Dominion Countries and Former Colonies.

Here’s a nice read on cannabis and psychosis on Leafly.com. Cannabis is sadly going to be something that some people just should avoid out of mental health reasons, but that should not spoil it for the rest of us.

Wyoming House of Represenatives is having a hearing TOMORROW on what should be considered a “felony” amount of edibles/THC vs misdemenor. sf23 was passed by the Senate, and has moved on for consideration/vote by the House.

Currently the state of Wyoming has a loophole in their marijuana restrictions that allows for people to have edibles. They are trying to CLOSE that loophole at the demand of police and officials, despite the wishes of the people of Wyoming.

Please mention SOMETHING about this. Citizens of Wyoming need to contact their reps and tell them to vote NO!

For revealing this really fucking creepy anti-marijuana ad from NRA TV.
We always knew that legalized marijuana would reduce violence and gun sales, but who in the fuck believes they need to buy a gun to protect them from “slut-shamed” marijuana? Legal disclaimer; You may want to be stoned before watching the NRATV marijuana clip towards the middle of the Youtube link from Last Week Tonight. It’s that bad. This is how we know that far right wing media and evil defense contractors have officially run out of effective marijuana propaganda.

ARMED TEACHER DISCHARGES WEAPON, INJURES STUDENT
(From Daily Los)
The LA Times is reporting on this incident, which happened yesterday in Seaside High School in Monterey County California. This teacher brought a firearm to school to give a lecture on “Public Safety Awareness”. This teacher serves as a reserve police officer in Sand City California, so they fit the Trump definition of “certain highly adept people, people that understand weaponry, guns — if they really have that aptitude. “

The teacher “inadvertently” fired the gun into the ceiling of the classroom. The bullet went through the ceiling. “A student hit by bullet fragments or ceiling debris sustained a minor neck injury.” Maybe Trump should work on “hardening” school ceilings and walls.

When Trump supporters decided they were fine with the filth that comes out of Trump’s upper shit-hole, they set the standard. They set the bar so low, you couldn’t trip on it if you tried. But they can’t have it both ways!

Now, I will say whatever the fuck I like about that fascist, violent piece of dog shit. Fuck that pussy-grabbing, KKK-loving, Putin’s-dick-sucking traitor, Trump.

That goes for his supporters and defenders, too. They don’t ever get to lecture me about profanity, ever.

The biggest cry babies seem to be the real fascists as they don’t even hide it while accusing Trump and anyone identifying as a Republican.

Putin and Trump? Again, total bullshit. No evidence whatsoever, but some fucker said it’s true and the deep state and the mindless zombies latched on with surprisingly effective results.

The people that realize these bullshit accusations and insults are all fiction but choose to continue spreading them around (for two years and counting): these people are the real enemy.

I’ll conclude by calling out the faker, Dain. You jackass. Traitor Trump, you say, yet Obama did NOTHING to combat the Russians and went so far as to mock the rhino Romney as though Russia was not a threat. But that’s perfectly acceptable, right?

And no, Trump is not my guy. I voted for the lesser evil, as we’re always forced to do. And Hillary was and is the most evil. Call me Captain Obvious! But, she won the popular vote, so I must be wrong, I know.
(sarcasm bitches)

It’s the same hypocrisy they readily exhibit whenever one of their boys is in the WH. They ripped Obama for 8 years, continually disrespecting him and calling him every name imaginable, but when their boy’s in the WH, we should all suddenly support the president, lol. Right.

@Negative Nancy, Trump is most likely not the Manchurian candidate you and the ratings-driven media purport. Back channel to Russia? Does any nose-breathing human being really believe that? Or are you just glad you can easily hang Americans out to dry another two years while it’s investigated, based on bullshit?

Proactive response: difference between me and so many of you people is, I’ll gladly bash both sides of the aisle. There’s plenty of mud to sling. Whereas you people have a blind allegiance to the liberal side and refuse to discuss anything objectively. You’re irresponsible and should hang your heads low while self loathing the contributions you’ve made toward globalism, although your elite puppet masters might reward you with “free college” or some other scam you’ve already bought into.

A Russian politician and banker with ties to the Russian mob, Alexander Torshin and his assistant from Siberia, Maria Butina, have been cultivating the NRA and Republicans since 2011.

From Mother Jones and Daily Kos:

November 2013: Torshin and Butina invite [NRA President David] Keene to Moscow for a Right to Bear Arms meeting that draws 200 people and features a fashion show, including attire designed for carrying concealed weapons. […]

December 8-13, 2015: [NRA member Paul] Erickson, Keene, future NRA President Pete Brownell, and Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke meet with Kremlin officials in Moscow, where they have lavish meals and visit a gun manufacturer. Clarke, an outspoken Trump supporter, later files an ethics report showing that Right to Bear Arms paid $6,000 for his expenses. […]

January 21, 2016: Trump speaks at the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s annual “SHOT Show” in Las Vegas; Don Jr. and Eric Trump also attend, posing with representatives from Sig Sauer, whose “Black Mamba” MCX assault rifle would soon be used in the Orlando nightclub massacre. Ten days later, at an event at an Iowa gun shop, Don Jr. and Eric Trump shoot assault rifles and brag about their concealed-carry permits. “I shoot all the time,” Don Jr. tells the Telegraph. “Every weekend.” [..]

May 2016: In an email to Trump campaign aide Rick Dearborn, with the subject line “Kremlin Connection,” Erickson says Russia is “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” and proposes using the NRA convention to set up “first contact” with the Trump team. According to a New York Times report, Erickson writes that he’s in a position to “slowly begin cultivating a back-channel to President Putin’s Kremlin.” The email doesn’t name Torshin but appears to reference him as “President Putin’s emissary” who planned to attend a dinner hosted by conservative Christian activist Rick Clay. Meanwhile, Clay sends an email to Dearborn with the subject line “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite,” seeking a meeting between Trump and Torshin. Dearborn forwards Clay’s email to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who reportedly nixes the proposal. […]

June 15, 2016: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tells fellow GOP leaders in a private conversation, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God.” House Speaker Paul Ryan immediately shuts down the conversation and swears those present to secrecy. When a recording of the conversation later becomes public, McCarthy says he was just joking.

August 2016: Hours after Trump appears to threaten Hillary Clinton during a campaign rally by invoking “Second Amendment people” who might “do something” to stop her, Politico reports that the NRA has bought its most expensive pro-Trump campaign ad yet: a $3 million spot attacking Clinton.

The entire saga of the NRA cultivating the GOP is strange and convoluted enough, but here’s the bottom line:

November 14, 2017: “It appears the Russians…infiltrated the NRA,” Glenn Simpson, founder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, testifies to the House Intelligence Committee. “They targeted various conservative organizations, religious and otherwise, and they seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the NRA.” Referencing Torshin and Butina, he adds, “The most absurd [thing] about this is that, you know, Vladimir Putin is not in favor of universal gun ownership for Russians. And so it’s all a big charade, basically.”
__________________

Like I said… TRUMP IS A FUCKING TRAITOR TO AMERICA! TRAITORS HAVE NO SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS UNDER THE US CONSTITUTION!

That’s good! I like that. Trump thinks Pence is a pussy, anyway. Such a choir-boy! Pence will see that campaign slogan and say, “Now wait a minute! I am, like, the KING of reefer madness! I’m willing to kill drug users, too, you know! You used me! You used me!”

Hi Mark: Thanks for your kind words. I know I run the risk of sounding like a broken record on this, but this is a marijuana legalization site and I felt that the relationship between Trump and a self admitted fascist like Duterte needs to be highlighted. You mentioned gaslighting in a previous post, and these Trumpsters have taken gaslighting to a whole new level. BTW the movie “Gaslight” was on TCM a week or so ago. To me the ultimate gaslighting happens when you have Trumpsters saying that Trump is good marijuana legalization, when at the same time, Sessions is licking his chops to crack down on the cannabis industry, Duterte is having people murdered on his behalf and Trump praises it! Trump has recently praised Singapore’s hangman drug laws. But yet the Trumpsters want you to believe that Sessions is harmless and that Trump is good for legalization. Mark, I confess to being gullible, but even that is too much of a fantastic for me. Looking forward to the Blue tsunami in the fall. Take care!

When the young woman’s Youtube video went viral after her self-abusing attacks ended after a few short hits off amarijuana vaporizer, CPS took note and pressed charges on the father. The Republican family had elderly parents to look after and could not seek refuge in Colorado. So, terrified, they faced a judge in court.

I would like to draw attention to these two excerpts in the article:

“Christy and Mark dressed themselves with care, too, thinking about the impression they’d make on the judge. Even though both have long considered themselves Republicans, they were glad they got a Democrat instead of a hardline conservative.”

“In the Court, there will be a JUDGE,” the mother said to her autistic daughter before court, “The judge is very nice and will be wearing a long black robe…
…There’s the judge — who’s up for re-election, by the way,” Christy said. “We’ll see if we vote for her after today.”

John, you may have intended that as an insult, and I expect that kind of thing from a percentage of the people who disagree with my comments.

After all, I have given you an easy opening with my nom de plume. Now guess what? I was setting you up; and, you fell for it!

Now, I get to explain why I go by “Dain Bramage”, whether you really wanted to know, or whether you were just giving me shit.

“Dain Bramage” is a bit like a spoonerism. It whimsically suggests a person with brain damage might commit metathesis when trying to say “brain damage.” That’s the joke part, and the set-up.

But I don’t have brain damage; I have a broken faith with the lie which you deluded corporate whores call “society.”

John, I suffer from an ailment which is this: I can’t believe a goddamn thing you lying fucks say to me. Ever!

I have eaten way too much shit, over the years, from assholes like you, John; and now, you and your fellow nut-sack Trump supporters do to this me on this blog, all the time.

I wasn’t always as clear-minded as am now. Weed has helped alot.

They made me question myself, when I was younger, when I had straight questions, and when I needed straight answers. They preyed on my naivety, and my confusion, and my trust. It wasn’t easy.

But I kept working the problem; I kept my faith in truth and reason. It took many years, but eventually I returned, sober, sane, and triumphant.

Dain Bramage is my warrior’s name, my name of Victory. It is the name I use when I am kicking Trump supporters’ asses.

Because, after all these years of being told I was crazy, I have managed to think it all through, nevertheless. And, I have come to one conclusion: I am sane; But you, who are my accusers, on the other hand — you all are completely out of your ever-loving, goddamn minds! And I am absolutely positive about it.

And, I do enjoy telling you so. Thank you, John, for giving me the chance to kick your ass, too!

I notice the Trump people are trying to justify themselves on this site. A vote for Trump was a vote for Sessions and the reinvigorated Drug War. Those that voted for Trump have aligned themselves with Drug War psychopaths like Duterte of the Philippines and the anti drug hangmen of Singapore, Malayasia and Indonesia. And you Trumpsters claim to be for legalization? Just curious, does the G in GOP mean gaslight?

Trump is an obvious and heavy-handed Putin operative. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are traitors, too!

Regarding Paul Ryan (by Joan McCarter, Daily Kos):
“If House Speaker Paul Ryan wasn’t complicit in suppressing information about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, he sure as hell is complicit in allowing it to happen again in 2018.

“The head of a federal agency who has helped U.S. states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others is being removed from his post by Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House.

“Matthew Masterson, currently chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and a former Ohio state official, has been passed over for a second four-year term as one of the agency’s four commissioners, according to sources familiar with the matter. […]

“Masterson has spent the last year as the commission’s chairman, focusing largely on election cyber security, state election officials said. Twenty-one states experienced probing of their systems by Russian hackers during the 2016 election, according to U.S. officials. […]

“It is pretty remarkable that in this environment, given the importance of this issue, that the speaker would choose this moment to not reappoint the person doing the most work in this area,” said Judd Choate, Colorado’s election director and the immediate past president of the National Association of State Election Directors.”

And, as for Mitch McConnell (also by Joan McCarter, Daily Kos):
“Asked whether he wished he’d handled the accusations about Russian interference differently ahead of the 2016 elections, McConnell said, “No, I’m perfectly comfortable with the steps that were taken back then.”

“You can infer from this statement that he’ll be perfectly comfortable with the nothing that the administration is doing now to prevent Russia from interfering in the 2018 election. “